Although Houdini claimed to have been born on April 6, 1874 in Appleton, Wisconsin, he actually was born on March 24, 1874 in Budapest, Hungary. While Houdini wasn’t born in Appleton, he fondly referred to it as his hometown. …

He died on October 31, 1926, at the age of 52, after his appendix ruptured and peritonitis set in. Houdini had little formal education, but his self-education was a lifelong pursuit.

Four years later, after his father got hired as a rabbi, his family moved to Appleton and lived on College Avenue. The site of their home is now called Houdini Plaza.

Erik Weisz

Harry Houdini

Harry began his career as a famous escape artist with a trick called “Metamorphosis.” In this trick, an assistant, and then later his wife, was placed into a locked box and then switched places with the magician within seconds after a curtain was raised.

Escapologists (also classified as escape artists) escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks, and other perils, often in combination.

TOP 10 GREATEST Magicians of All Time

• Howard Thurston. (1869-1936)
• David Copperfield. (1956-)
• John Nevil Maskelyne. (1839-1917)
• Alexander Herrmann. (1844-1896)
• Dai Vernon. (1894-1992)
• Doug Henning. (1947-2000)
• David Devant. (1868-1941)
• Harry Kellar. (1849-1922)

Thanks to the hugely popular (and largely fictional) 1953 film Houdini, starring Tony Curtis, a common myth you’ll often hear concerning how Houdini died is that he drowned failing to escape from a water tank during a performance, having to ultimately be pulled from the tank as depicted in the film.

Houdini Died of a Ruptured Appendix In fact, he took the stage the night before he was hospitalized with appendicitis. He reportedly had a 104-degree fever at the time. Houdini was hospitalized after his October 24 performance and never left the hospital.

peritonitis

The official cause of Houdini’s death was listed as peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix. At the time, the magician’s doctors firmly believed that the illness was the result of the walloping J. Gordon Whitehead had given him during their backstage encounter in Montreal.

“Houdini died in ’26,” Radner says, “and his wife tried to contact him on the anniversary of his death for 10 years.” Houdini, himself, debunked mediums and proved most were frauds. He promised his wife, Bess, that if it were possible to communicate with the dead, he would come back to her, should he die first.

Chinese Water Torture Cell

twelve magicians

– Others might vanish rabbits, but in 1918, on the brightly-lit stage of the Hippodrome in New York City, Houdini made a 10,000-pound elephant disappear. He created a sensation. When Houdini fired a pistol Jennie vanished from view.

Deceased (1874–1926)